David Floury, technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, said the performance of the three-car Porsche Penske Motorsport team during six hours of testing ahead of the showpiece World Endurance Championship meant that “if they don’t win they will have did a terrible job.”
“I think it’s clear: if Porsche doesn’t win, they will have done a terrible job,” he said after the conclusion of the tests. “From what we could see today, they are ahead in every way. We’ll see more over the course of the week, but it’s clear that Porsche is strong.”
When asked if the Porsche’s performance on the test day was a surprise, given its form so far in the WEC this year and the Balance of Performance for the Le Mans event released last week, Floury replied: “No surprise”.
Floury questioned whether Ferrari and Cadillac showed their true pace during the test, in which their best cars finished fifth and sixteenth respectively, but added that he expects BMW to enter the fray after finishing in the top six in both sessions. “Behind the Porsche, there should be a good fight,” she said.
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
Porsche Penske Motorsport closed the tests with a double, also taking fourth place. Kevin Estre was fastest in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh with a time of 3’26″907 at the start of the afternoon session, while the additional car competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship took second place.
Nick Tandy took the car to second place with a time of 3’27″356, before Felipe Nasr improved to 3’27″142 in the final stages of the afternoon session. The third car instead finished in fourth place, behind the Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8.
Brendon Hartley recorded a time of 3’27″615 in the Japanese car, compared to Michael Christensen’s 3’27″773 in the fourth-placed Porsche.
Porsche downplayed its pre-race favorites status ahead of Le Mans week. Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh program at Porsche Motorsport, said: “We will be in the mix, we will be present, but I don’t know whether we are favorites or not. “We are in contention with many other cars, which is good, and I don’t see the It’s time to participate in this race.”
Kuratle stressed that Porsche cannot be certain whether other manufacturers used their full potential during the test day. “We just know that we made our plan and this was the result, but we don’t dream of being that far ahead.”
Free practice for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin on Wednesday 12 June at 2pm, with the first qualifying sessions following at 7pm.
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